PT Padmé Amidala MEGAthread - Don't look at her that way. It makes her uncomfortable

I don't consider it a sign of strength, but rather one of weakness. She was a strong character, under most circumstances. But, like everyone, she had a weak point: her love for Anakin and her desire to do good for everyone. Hit her there, and in the right way (i.e. twist them around into something awful), and she can't survive.

We'll have to agree to differ on this, I guess.

 

I'd add a third point: whether "strength" is the most important factor with which to judge a character.

Like, assuming the physical damage had nothing to do with it and we take the "lost the will to live" line at face value: was allowing herself to die the "strong" option? No. Does that moment of weakness make Padme any less of an interesting and multifaceted character? IMO, also no, but I know that some will disagree.

 

She had a reason to live; sure, but that doesn't mean she has the will to live. Her husband just doomed the galaxy she was fighting so hard to save, turned on her and their friend, and then in a moment of rage attempted to kill both her and their child. As much as she knew there was still good in him, I'm assuming she realized it wasn't her destiny to bring it back out of him as we saw from the force choking. I think Padme, as an intelligent, compassionate and person willing to sacrifice, knew that the baby was more important. Not only out of a mothering instinct of love, but as a character who fought for the light. I think she would know that if the baby survived, he/she/ (both) were the best hope for the galaxy, and if she was around, Vader would never stop hunting for her and thus, them.

 

I felt like Padme was the worst written character in the whole trilogy - from beginning to end. Fake queen, useless poltiican, and then clueless wife - what's more to be said? Her death was just icing on a pile of dung.

 

For some, quite a bit. Because that isn't the only way to read Padme, sir.

 

I felt like Padme was the worst written character in the whole trilogy - from beginning to end. Fake queen, useless poltiican, and then clueless wife - what's more to be said? Her death was just icing on a pile of dung.
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*chuckles*

not exactly a fan of the character myself, she's what I call an "in your face" type character much like Mace Windu, imo.

Your assessment of her was quite funny though.

 

I disagree, AFS. It is not wrong to be led by emotion, first. Being strongly empathetic, deep-feeling, and a heart person isn't wrong or a problem. Yes, such people need wisdom and balance which neither Skywalker had but it doesn't make such wiring bad.

 

What did she die of?: Writer's Block

Mainly kidding.

I've never liked this and don't feel that the script works here. Obviously the lines have symbological significance but they come across as fantastical and cause suspension of disbelief in most viewers, it seems to me.

As some have said it is actually possible for grief to affect people physically and the ailing to the point where it can actually kill them. It's perhaps best to 'interpret' the ''medically she is completely healthy'' bit as that she ought to recover normally from the several physical traumas that she's gone through (ie being choked by Anakin and giving birth to twins -thank god I managed to stop myself from going with the twin traumas line there) -rather than that she is in perfect health. In other words her extreme emotional reaction produces a psychosematic reaction that compounds with her injuries and she fails to recover in the way that the droids would anticipate.

 

Actually I think the Padmé we are given in ROTS seems to share only a name with the character from the previous two movies. In every scene she is rendered almost as nothing without Anakin. Her scenes are about Anakin - even the deleted 'rebellion' scenes are really about her relationship with Anakin.

The scene that gets me most (apart from the 'dying of a broken heart' bit ) is when she asks Anakin to speak to Palpatine, as he is so close to him. Anakin gets angry and essentially tells her to shut up and mind her own business. What does Padmé do? Does she (as I'm sure AOTC Padmé would have) ask him why he seems to believe in Palpatine's ideas more than hers (hey, maybe you should go marry him then....); does she give him that AOTC 'I'm in charge of security' look and point out where he is and who he's talking to? No, she acts as if she has made him angry. That is why I have said before that it brings to mind an abusive relationship, because that is exactly how they work - the abused party believes themselves to be the problem...and that is what she does. She makes no demands of him at all as a husband, friend...whatever. She just whimperingly panders to his state of mind.

That is all that Padmé has become in ROTS, a simpering accessory in Anakin's tale.

 

There's a difference between being empathetic and giving up because your husband/wife jumped off into crazy-land. I may be empathetic and kind-hearted, but if my spouse went evil, I'm still going to keep fighting, keep going because hell on high water, I'm not going to surrender *that* easily. Would I probably start drinking a little too much? Probably, but I'd still keep fighting. Padme, despite firmly believing there was still good in Anakin apparently 'gives up life' because her hubby has gone evil. As AFS said, she basically defined herself by Anakin's actions.

It's understandable she would be heartbroken that her husband basically enslaved the entire galaxy and helped kill off 99% of the Jedi Order. But considering she has two children, a budding Rebellion, two Jedi and Senator Organa, I'd say she's got a few things to hold onto.

It's one thing if she killed herself knowing that her being alive would put her children in danger. That's not what happened here: she basically died because she felt bad that her husband went evil.

 

In my opinion she died of stress, child birth and a broken heart.

 

It's almost impossible to conceive that she dies of grief/sadness when her relationship with Anakin has been so oddly shallow. You get the feeling that needy, wallowing Anakin has basically pestered Padme into the relationship and that she has acceded with a sigh to stop him moaning). Anakin is a creepy, whining bully - nothing more. I can't believe she didn't get better offers.

We never get a feeling that the two are in love during the prequels, just a sense that they are a pair of gullible, paranoid kids with little experience or knowledge of life and even less in the way of wisdom.

 

Did Padme die of this:

http://www.webmd.com/heart/features/broken-heart-syndrome-stress-cardiomyopathy
??
did the medical droids misdiagnose when they said she was perfectly healthy because they were looking at the symptoms but not recognizing the cause?

 

The PT hangs on this and the fact their relationship doesn't come across as convincing (to me anyway) helps to make his turn to the dark side seems rushed.

As for Padme dying, the explanation they give is just rubbish. I think they missed a trick with her death and should have made it more attributed to Anakin, he could have thrown her or he could have injured her during the fight as she tried to come between them. Instead shes choked a bit, falls down and then loses the will to live.

 

Actually, Anakin completely drops his pursuit of her because she convinces him that it's a bad idea. Then Padme, not Anakin, initiates a relationship.

That's exactly what they are. They're also in love, such as it is.

e:

The point is that Anakin "killed" Padme by destroying everything she stood for and believed in. He didn't literally kill her. But he killed the idea of her. Anakin was obsessed with saving Padme's physical self from death, but in the process he ended up destroying her soul. That's the tragedy.

All these posts decrying the literal physical implausibility of it all are completely missing the point of the films. The Star Wars films are allegorical. A lot of people don't get that, and it's a problem with the Star Wars fandom as a whole. It's why we have so many people constantly arguing about the exact physical size of the Death Star, but they couldn't tell you what the Death Star actually represents if their lives depended on it.

 

Can I ask why do you even comment in the PT section if you don't like it.

 

I still think Sideous should have used the force to telepathically/telekeneticlly kill her during childbirth. In fact my 11 year old self thought that's what happened back in theaters in 2005. It would have made Sideous way more evil and easier for me to hate. As it stands now, Palpatine is one of my favorite characters up there with Tarkin, Dooku, and Jango. It also would have made it more twisted and ironic when Palpatine blames Vader for her death, it could have also made the "noooo!" In ROTS a little more serious. Losing the will to live simply doesn't make sense, Unless there is some EU explanation that non-force sensitive women are harmed when giving birth to force sensitive babies but that would be utterly ridiculous.

 

Star Wars is fantasy. Despite its apparent sci-fi trappings, on some level it's more like Lord of the Rings in Space. So Padme's death may seem physically implausible or impossible from a real-world POV, but in the Star Wars universe things are different. The Force was probably involved in some way.

 

Just saw this when looking through my Twitter.

http://www.retrozap.com/padme-didnt-die-of-a-broken-heart/

I'm not going to post everything, but I will post the end.

 

Suggestive editing aside, the timeframe of various parts of the film leaves room for interpretation. He may simply have learned of her death. ( For one thing, Vader doesn't seem to come to the same conclusion when he hears Palpatine's statement. )